Trivium Packaging: Sustainable beauty packaging builds lasting consumer trust
30 Sep 2025 | Trivium Packaging
Trivium Packaging designs circular metal packaging for the beauty industry. Personal Care Insights speaks with Alice Bazzano, sustainability director, about how metal provides superior protection against air and light, helping preserve natural formulations’ freshness. We also explore recent research showing that sustainability is a major consumer purchasing and loyalty driver. Bazzano says that nearly 90% of consumers cite trust as the primary reason they are willing to pay more, while vague or unclear messaging remains the largest barrier to retention.
This is Sabina Waldeck for Personal Care Insights.
Joining me today is Alice Banzano, sustainability director at Chavine Packaging.
Welcome, Alice.
Thank you.
OK, so let's jump right into the interview.
Is there a best type of packaging for the beauty industry to ensure recyclability, for example, metal, glass, or plastic?
But no, there is not one best type of packaging for the beauty industry, but there are many factors companies need to consider when packaging their products, from consumer use to ingredient compatibility to sustainability goals and beyond.
However, when it comes to designing for circular economy, metal packaging is the best option for the beauty industry because metal packaging offers excellent protection against light, air, moisture, and temperature fluctuation, and this is particularly important for sensitive beauty formulations such as natural and vegan products which are prone to oxidation and degradation.
And because it preserves freshness longer than plastic alternative metal packaging can help to extend the shelf life of beauty products and reduce waste.
So both metal and glass packaging offer infinitive recyclability, meaning they can be used, recycled, remade endlessly as their metal properties do not lose quality.
So unlike plastic, paper, other materials which degrade each time they are used and recycling, limited their use to a few cycles.
If they are even recycled at all.
In a metal packaging has one of the highest recycle rates at the global level and is often exceeding 70%, and when you recycle it, you save up to 95% of the energy required to produce new metal from virgin material.
So metal packaging is positioned for a circular animal economy.
Due to its quality and because it's easily also sorted among ways due to the fact that it's magnetic so it can easily be taken out from the other waste stream and in addition because metal also so widely used, there is a high demand for metal scrap which increase the incentive for collection and recycling and that metal stays in the loop enabling a circular economy.
We have seen many companies partner with recycling Coalition and organization to help ensure that the packaging they are using is being recycled, and we also see consumer education is important and this is something that company can easily do when selecting their packaging and marketing their product.
We know that consumers are seeking a recyclable packaging from the brands that they buy from.
And according to a study that we did with Euromonitor called in 2023 buying Green Report, we found out that 60 66% of consumers consider themselves to be environmentally aware and 79% of consumers are looking for products and sustainable packaging.
And on top of that, 71% of consumers say they have chosen a product in the last 6 months based on its sustainability credential.
So brands should also consider this feature but also refillable and reusable option, minimizing the material that they use in their packaging.
So still in the same survey that we did, 71% of consumers say they engage in sustainable activities like refilling bottles and containers, but also like more practical things like buying local.
And we see brands like Blue Land and Growth Collaborative are known for their refillable option and even fragrances such as we or Arbo by Botticario are utilizing refillable solutions.
So innovation in packaging solution can really help move effort towards a more circular economy.
Yeah, and speaking about how consumers are super aware of sustainability and asking for sustainability and participating in sustainable practices, how can beauty packaging And beauty packaging manufacturers win consumer trust for its ecological claims since they, it's also been shown that they're becoming increasingly skeptical of sustainability claims.
Yeah, so I think first the manufacturer needs to be transparent about the, the packaging and the way the packaging is produced and brands needs to be aware of the different material pros and cons as as their recycling rates and from and from credible sources so.
It's important to assess the recyclability, the recycling rates, but also life cycle assessment can be used to help consumer distinguish between different packaging format.
With the also the growing concern of greenwashing, it's critical that beauty brands are transparent with consumer about their packaging and how it's recycled and how it can be reused.
Clear, honest, reliable message needs to be on the packaging.
So consumer can really understand what they are buying from their brands.
We think that a simple labeling is one of the most powerful ways brands can support consumers and build loyalty.
So instead of re relying on a very generic symbol that is maybe just created by the brand, it's good to use more like a, a common use instruction like check locally to help prevent contamination and be consumer trends, trust, and it's important that the claims are, backed up by science and ideally also third party verified.
For metal we encourage the use of metal recycled forever, which is a very simple logo the consumer understand and remind that when recycled cans, tins, and aluminum packaging they come back into a new form.
And that clarity pays off.
So if we look at the Public Ins Conscious Consumer Report, found that a vague messaging is the number one barrier in retail, with 50% of shoppers abandoning products that lack clear labeling.
And among highly conscious consumers, we see that number spikes up to 87%.
On the flip side, when brands are transparent, they win both loyalty and revenue.
For almost 90% of consumer, trust is the number one reason they pay more, and loyal customers spend 67% more than new ones.
So even a modest 5% increase in retention can drive profit up to 25%.
So clearly clarity brings awareness but also trust and help brands build growth.
Yeah, and, that's super interesting, especially the small retention, but then larger profit.
Moving to more forward looking, what do you think is sort of the next big thing in terms of beauty packaging?
A consumers are looking for high quality products with a particular focus on clean, science-based, and luxurious product.
So an example, consumers are using different deodorant scents for different occasions.
So just as someone that is coordinating their outfit with their activity throughout the day and into the night.
So with the incredible decoration capability for metal packaging.
Established by directly printing on the metal substrate, brand's packaging can not only stand out on the shelf but also align the brand's product with their unique consumer design.
So we think that en enough shaping, for example, for aluminum packaging can even create a completely unique look for a product and brand without sacrificing any advantage on metal packaging, including durability and sustainability advantages, in particular the circularity one.
Yeah, and then what have you seen as emerging trends in beauty packaging, let's say in the past few years, and then once again forward looking, where do you expect them to go?
So we've seen beauty brands focus on circular packaging and aligning that with their sustainability goals.
So that's definitely a trend and, and it's not just the recycling rates and it's just not just the recyclability per se, but also it's the reusable and refillable solution.
So if you look from haircare product like Eva NYC to beauty brands like Beauty Kitchen to fragrance blends like We, brands are reducing weight, so they use less material and they are educating their consumer on the recyclability of their page but also encourage really like their user refillable feature.
So the this ability to capture the success successful refill model.
Can be seen really as a catalyst for growth for brands around the world as consumers are really searching for the next major sustainability breakthrough and ultimately also the use of AI we are seeing brand innovating faster than ever before and the Trivia must work to keep up with the pace through not only optimizing our artwork production process but also implementing tools to improve prototyping for the artwork as as the final packaging design.
Nice.
So, yeah, I agree.
AI will be an interesting sort of development going forward and seeing how it sort of takes over different industries, but yeah, Alice, thank you for joining Personal Care Insights.
Thank you.
Thanks a lot, Sabine.
